NICK Holmes is refusing to write off Salisbury City's Eastern Division promotion chances in the wake of Saturday's 3-1 defeat at party poopers King's Lynn.

The ex-Saint insisted: "There are six games left and as it's tight at the top we're still in with a chance - especially as we'll have players returning from injury and suspension.

"We had to play our football today, but on a poor surface King's Lynn's style was more effective than ours. We're spoiled at our ground and next week we will beat Fisher Athletic at home."

Whites went into battle without injured defenders Andy Cook (medial knee ligaments) and Josh Thomas (groin) and they sorely missed the midfield influence of Wayne Turk, who is out for the rest of the season with a fractured ankle.

A fourth-minute super strike from the Linnets' Dave Staff set the tone, but the visitors' hopes were raised when Stuart Brown bagged a 22nd-minute leveller.

But Lynn - who broke Bashley's hearts last week - upped their game with Lee Stevenson and Chris Bacon striking either side of the break to make the scoreline more realistic.

Whites have no midweek fixture, but their fate could be swayed in Birmingham today when the FA consider their appeal against a three-point deduction for playing an ineligible player, Nathan Perkins, at Spalding in February. Should the points be docked, they would drop a place to fourth.

There was fighting talk too from Barry Blankley, whose Bashley side came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Banbury United.

After four straight defeats, the fading Foresters urgently needed to get back to winning ways in Oxfordshire but, despite dropping two more precious points, Blankley is still not convinced his fifth-placed side are out of it.

He said: "Hopefully there will still be a few twists and turns in our favour. We've got two home games coming up against Ashford (Wednesday) and Sittingbourne (Saturday) and we need six points out of six, no questions asked."

Bash got off to a disastrous start as Banbury struck twice inside the first 16 minutes through Jason Allen and French goal sensation Norman Sylla.

But the Foresters drew on their reserves of character to pull level by half-time with Craig Davis heading in a Craig Anstey cross and Darren Robson netting a sweet left-foot half-volley after Paul Sales had nodded on Davis's long throw.

From then on Bashley took control, but the bad luck that has dogged them in recent weeks stubbornly refused to budge. Sales could have won it late on, but was denied by an excellent save from 'keeper Simon Tricker.

Blankley said: "I can't fault any one of our players and I won't let anybody knock them. We must have forced a minimum of 15 corners in the second half, but just couldn't score.

"Football's a cruel game and at the moment the luck's just not going for us. But if the big man upstairs says that when the ball drops in the box, it's going to go to one of their defenders, there's nothing we can do to change that.

"Earlier in the season when luck was going our way, we'd have won Saturday's match 6-2. Everyone's so cheesed off that we didn't get the three points."

According to Fleet Town co-boss Mark Dennis, it's Eastbourne Borough who are at the front of the queue when luck is being handed out.

The league leaders emerged 2-1 winners at Calthorpe Park on Saturday despite being outplayed for long spells by a club who are still not mathematically assured of safety.

Dennis said: "We mullered them in every department. It was the best we've played and I'm so proud of our lads.

"Eastbourne are a lovely club and a very good footballing side, but they know they shouldn't have won the game. Our lads did so well that they were given a standing ovation by our fans - and Eastbourne's. It was great to see."

After blotting his copybook with a midweek sending-off in the Aldershot Senior Cup, Saints Academy lad Shea Saunders, pictured, had a storming game up front, striking the woodwork before firing his side in front with a 20-yard left-foot strike in the 35th minute.

Eastbourne levelled Smart five minutes later and won it with a 64th-minute Daren Pearce penalty controversially awarded against Saunders.

"It was such a shame because I don't think Eastbourne had a worthwhile shot in the second half and with a decent referee we could have won that game and done Bashley a big favour," said Dennis. "Unfortunately decisions always go in favour of the top sides, it's the law of the land."

The result leaves Eastbourne two points clear of second-placed Dorchester, who won 4-0 at Chatham. Salisbury are two points behind the Magpies in third, while Stamford are fourth - five points clear of Bashley.

Reserve striker Chris Bridges marked his first-team debut for Newport IoW by scoring in a 1-1 home draw against Ashford Town.

The 19-year-old Islander drew rich praise from manager Steve Tate, who said: "He was by far the best player on the park. I've played him as a substitute before but never started him. He's shown me what he's capable of now and I've realised he's a player I can work with."

Bridges' big moment came in the 53rd minute when frontman Jamie O'Rourke, playing in an unfamiliar midfield role, beat two Ashford defenders and laid the ball into the path of the youngster, whose shot went into the net off goalkeeper John Whitehouse.

But an injury to centre-back Mark Isaacson forced Newport to reshuffle late on and, with Tate stepping in as an emergency defender, they succumbed to a stoppage-time leveller from Adrian Stone.

It might have been worse for Newport, but 'keeper Joe McCormack rescued them with a fine save from an Aaron O'Leary free-kick in the dying seconds.

Former Bashley, Winchester City and AFC Totton striker Michael Jackson headed home the winner for Weymouth in a vital 2-1 home success over fellow Premier Division strugglers Welling United.